Ties That Bind: Adrift in the Stars
by Damian Lovat
Summary: The first tale of Ties That Bind. After a narrow escape from the space station Bottle Ship, a horribly injured Samus finds herself in the care of a scion of the stars.


07.

The mark of Adam's platoon was etched into the back of the helmet, which sat untouched on the console of the control center. It rested exactly where the commander had left it in his haste to prevent her from making a horrific mistake, almost as if placed there just for her to return to it. It always seemed like he knew just what she was thinking, even before the thought would even cross her mind.

She deactivated the Varia suit, taking a few steps in silence until she was within arm's reach of the helmet, which she held in her arms. It took all of her composure to not break down then and there, to not shake in place or to cry like she promised herself she never would. He looked down at it's visor, almost as if she could look into the eyes of the closest thing she had ever had to a father once more.

 _No objections, right Lady?_

She gripped the helmet tighter against her chest, holding on to the last remnant of her commanding officer, and her best friend. Her moment of silence for his sacrifice was soon broken, however, as lights began to flash and sirens began blaring. The _Bottle Ship_ 's self-destruct sequence had begun, and if she lingered for just a moment longer, Adam's sacrifice would have been for nothing, at least in her eyes. Through the wailing of the sirens, she could hear the clicks and screeches of Desbrachians, prompting her to withdraw her Paralyzer pistol, charging its next shot in preparation to blast the closest enemy aside and out of her way. Holding Commander Malkovich's helmet at her side, she charged out of the room and down a hall, running past burst pipes and fallen panels, making short leaps whenever necessary until she entered the main atrium of the _Bottle Ship_. Here, two Desbrachians attempted to charge her, only her her to simply barrel through them, knocking the aliens aside with the Paralyzer grasped firmly in her right hand. Before her was a giant glass window, and long hallways to either side. She didn't have time to choose one. Swearing to herself, she pointed the Paralyzer forward and ran, shooting the glass enough the severely crack, crashing through it's weakened frame with her body, tucking and rolling just as she landed at the ground floor below her. A shard of glass shot down, followed by the hot sting of its razorlike edge tearing through the skin of her cheek. She hissed, but sprung forward into a sprint from her position, ignoring the pain as she located the next corridor to rush through.

An explosion knocked her forward, making her stumble but not necessarily fall over. But this was enough for a Desbrachian to round the corner and rush the bounty hunter, who was quick to raise the Paralyzer and fire a few shock rounds into the alien while she ran forward. As soon as she was within reach of the alien, she reeled her hand back and cracked the creature in the face with the butt of the gun, and as it fell, checked it to the side with her shoulder, not once breaking stride. She reached an incline and reached a great enough speed to jump forward the moment she noticed that the next floor panel had fallen out completely, leaving a pit in her path to escape. She cleared, and another one just beyond it, barely making the jump and rolling along the floor. She had dropped the helmet in the process, and quickly reclaimed the relic of the recent past before running once more, hearing explosions behind her catch up as each section was destroyed systematically, advancing toward the hangar bay. She regained her stride once more, but swore again once she saw what fresh hell stood before her. Gates began sealing off her exit, most likely the Federation research team's way to prevent an escape from an attempted mutiny once the workers discovered the implications of the unspeakable bioweapons they were creating out of the already species-wiping Metroid parasites. She managed to slide beneath one, but the next one was already too low for her to contort her body under and pull herself past. With one quick motion, she slide the helmet along the ground and into the path of the gate, halting its progress there. She wrapped her fingers around the bottom of the gate and grunted as she lifted it up, scooting the helmet with her foot before ducking down and through the gap she had made, dropping it with a loud crash, and some wet crunch. She looked behind herself for a moment, finding that she had dropped it on the Desbrachian she had punched earlier, and apparently had been pursued by. She grabbed the helmet once more and brushed off the alien's thick blood from its visor, looking at a third, already closed gate. She ran to it and tried to lift it, but found that it wouldn't budge. Of course, it must have locked into place as soon as it reached the floor. There was no console for her to overload with the Paralyzer, and she couldn't return to her Varia suit and hold Adam's helmet at the same ti-

The explosions had caught up with her, and the corridor she was currently in burst into flames and flying debris. She barely managed to grip a ledge remaining from the explosion, but couldn't feel the helmet anywhere. She panicked the moment she realized this and looked down, finding it hanging onto an exposed pipe by her foot. Swinging herself, she kicked the headgear up, barely catching it under her left arm. She pulled herself up and looked at the gate that had impeded her progress just moments before, noticing that the bottom had been blown out, leaving exposed chain links at the bottom like barbed wire. It was wide enough for her to force herself through if she pulled at it enough, which she did, but the result of doing so would be painful. Out of options, she got down onto her stomach and crawled through, at first feeling the busted gate on her back like it was just the claws of a common house cat, but as she moved the tiny claws quickly became talons, and those talons became blades. She hissed, and then yelled as she mutilated her back and sides, the burning sensation of pain tearing through not only her body but her mind. Breathing heavily, she forced herself through with one last push, taking the helmet into her hand and running as hard as she could when she stood, though now slowed by the pain pulsating through her body. She could feel blood rolling across her skin, making her Zero Suit stick to her skin with a sickening thickness that should never have come in contact with the odd fabric it was comprised of. She couldn't shake off the uncomfortably cold air seeping into her hot wounds, but she simply couldn't spare to focus on this. If she didn't hurry up, she would be caught in another explosion, and if that didn't kill her, the inevitable one after that would.

She cleared the corridor, and was able to look out into the hangar. Desbrachians were everywhere, fighting one another over passenger spaces the sole ship in the hangar, her gunship. Gritting her teeth, she raised the Paralyzer, fully charged, and yelled out to the marauding aliens.

"Hey, you ugly bastards!"

Many of them stopped fighting and rushed the woman, who fired the charged shot toward the crowd, then scattered many uncharged shots as she picked off the few that broke away from the group to flank her. One got close enough and she bull rushed it, tackling it to the ground and charging the Paralyzer, jamming it through the beast's mandibles, blasting the shot through its skull and spraying blood, bone, and brain matter into the maw of madness. She stood quickly, grabbing another one by the head and pulling it down, connecting its forehead with her knee. As it reeled back from the impact, she bashed it with her shoulder, trampling it on her way to the next. At this moment, she holstered the Paralyzer and wrapped her right arm around the Desbrachian, leaning back and jamming it into the floor. She spun on the ground to get on her knees, sweeping another alien to the floor in the process, and stood back up, stomping her foot into the chest of the one she tackled. With her right arm, she grabbed one of its arms, and pulled. Through its screams of pain and protest, she continued her savage assault on the monster, ripping the arm right from its socket and running forward toward the crowd, hacking forward and to the sides with her new weapon, knocking many of them aside and simply intimidating some by charging at them, covered in the blood of their kin and wielding the limb of one as a club. At one point, she dropped the arm and grabbed a fleeing Desbrachian by the head from behind, bringing her elbow around in front of its chin, and forcefully yanked it down to her side, snapping its neck. The aliens, once her assailants, simply fled, making a break for the gunship in hopes the could escape not only the explosion of the _Bottle Ship_ , but this crazed barbarian of a woman. But this proved fruitless, as she rearmed herself with the Paralyzer and began firing into their backs and, in some cases, their heads, eventually clearing a path for her to rush in to active the boarding platform. While she did this, more Desbrachians tried to run at her to take her out with sheer numbers, only to be swallowed by the space station's second to last section explosion, before the core would automatically meltdown and destroy the _Bottle Ship_ in its entirety.

The platform finally reached the ground, and the bounty hunter stumbled onto it, holding on to the side rail to support herself, the limping towards her pilot's seat as she set Adam's helmet beside it, taking its place as her copilot. She began hammering in commands into her console, turning the ship toward the closed hangar exit and blasting a hole through it, having no time to leave the station properly. She guided the small ship forward and through her blast sight, breathing heavily, and looking down at her shaking hands.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting, Ada-"

The _Bottle Ship_ 's core began meltdown quicker than she had anticipated. The blast sent the ship careening, and the woman, who hadn't secured herself yet, was thrust against wall after wall, tossed around like a rubber ball shot from a canon. Her head slammed into her center console, and for a moment, she looked into the visor of her commander's helmet, then everything faded to darkness.

Something was touching the wound on her cheek. Despite the sting of pain just touching the laceration caused, she could tell whatever was touching it was doing so gently. She opened her eyes and was met by another pair, ones of an impossibly icy blue looking down at her, accompanied by a soft smile.

"Oh, you're finally awake."

She sat up as much as she could, but was quickly met with pain in her back and ribs. Right, she'd shredded herself in her escape. The figure above her, a woman with platinum blonde hair and a fair complexion, reached forward toward her and pressed her somewhat small hand against the bounty hunter's shoulder.

"No, don't get up just yet. You haven't recovered enough since we found you."

"Found me? Where the hell am I?"

She looked around, studying the room. It was mostly white, with some of the light blue highlighting certain edges and devices, clearly medical equipment. This was some sort of infirmary.

"You're a nurse?"

The platinum blonde woman giggled slightly at this.

"Hardly. I owe most of what I know to the Lumas."

Her eyes continued to scan the room, and the only other person inside it. She wore a dress that matched her eyes and… a tiara? Just what the hell was going on?

"You didn't answer my first question."

The crowned woman, not yet dropping her smile, nodded.

"You're in my space station."

"And you are?"

She blinked at hearing this, almost as if she couldn't find the answer at first. But then she smiled again, closing her eyes briefly.

"My name's Rosalina. And yours?"

The bounty hunter nodded to her, trying to adjust herself in the hospital bed. She felt her bare skin against the thin sheets, realizing that she was no longer in her Zero Suit, but a pair of shorts and bandages wrapped around her torso, covering her chest and, more appropriately, her wounds. She realized she hadn't answered and looked up to this Rosalina, who was still smiling with her eyes closed and head slightly cocked.

"Samus."


End file.
